Royal Victoria Hospital, Montreal facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Royal Victoria Hospital - Glen |
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| McGill University Health Centre | |
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McGill University Health Center's hospital complex - Glen site
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 Location in Montreal
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| Geography | |
| Location | 1001 Decarie Boulevard, Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
| Coordinates | 45°28′19″N 73°36′10″W / 45.471851°N 73.602716°W |
| Organization | |
| Care system | Public (RAMQ) |
| Hospital type | Teaching |
| Affiliated university | McGill University Faculty of Medicine |
| Network | McGill University Health Centre |
| Services | |
| Emergency department | Yes |
| Beds | 517 |
| Speciality | General medicine, Surgery, Organ Transplantation |
| History | |
| Founded | 1893 (Legacy site) 2015 (Glen site) |
The Royal Victoria Hospital (RVH), also known as the "Royal Vic" or "The Vic", is a big hospital in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the main hospital of the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC). This health centre works closely with McGill University.
The hospital first opened in 1893. It was located on Pine Avenue, which is now called the Legacy site. In 2015, most of the hospital's services moved to a new location called the Glen site. This new site is at 1001 Décarie Boulevard. The old Pine Avenue site might be used by McGill University in the future.
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A Look Back: The Hospital's History
The Royal Victoria Hospital started in 1893. Two generous Scottish immigrants, Donald Smith and George Stephen, donated money to build it. In 1887, they gave C$1,000,000 to build a free hospital in Montreal. They also bought land on Mount Royal for C$86,000. This land was once the Frothingham estate and covered ten acres.
Later, in 1897 and 1898, Smith and Stephen gave another C$1,000,000. This money was used to create a special fund to help run the hospital. They had one important rule: the hospital's land and buildings must always be used only for healing people.
When the Royal Vic opened in 1893, it was called the "finest and most perfectly equipped hospital" in North America. The founders wanted it to help "the sick and ailing without distinction of race or creed." At first, the hospital had 150 employees, including 14 medical doctors.
Over the years, many wealthy people from Montreal's English-speaking community helped the hospital. Their support made the hospital famous worldwide for healthcare and learning. Important helpers included James Ross, Richard Angus, Sir Vincent Meredith, and Sir Montagu Allan.
In 1920, the hospital became a place for medical research through the McGill University Faculty of Medicine. In 1929, Dr. Wilder Penfield started the Montreal Neurological Institute next to the hospital. One big medical success at the Royal Victoria was the first successful kidney transplant in the Commonwealth in 1958. A team led by Dr. John Dossetor and surgeons Joe Luke and Ken MacKinnon achieved this. Today, the Royal Victoria Hospital is part of the McGill University Health Centre.
During the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, the hospital was used to help homeless people who had coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) or were waiting for test results.
The Original Hospital Site
| Royal Victoria Hospital - Legacy | |
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Hôpital Royal Victoria - Legacy
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Original site of the Royal Victoria Hospital, now a historic site part of McGill University
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| General information | |
| Type | hospital |
| Architectural style | Scottish baronial |
| Address | 687 Pine Avenue |
| Town or city | Montreal |
| Country | Canada |
| Coordinates | 45°30′30″N 73°34′53″W / 45.50826°N 73.58145°W |
| Completed | 1893 |
| Relocated | 2015 |
| Technical details | |
| Material | Montreal limestone |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | Saxon Snell |
The hospital used to be in a group of buildings at 687 Pine Avenue. This location is on the side of Mount Royal in the Ville-Marie area. Most hospital services moved to the new Glen site in 2015. However, the McGill Reproductive Centre and the Dialysis Clinic stayed at the old site for a while.
The original hospital had nine buildings. Three of them were built in 1893. They were designed by Henry Saxon Snell in a style called Scottish baronial. The nearby Allan Memorial Institute still houses the psychiatry department. The future of the 122-year-old Royal Vic building is still being decided. McGill University has suggested using it for school purposes, and also creating community and green spaces.
The first hospital building was designed by Scottish architect Henry Saxon Snell. He was known for designing hospitals in England and Scotland. The original Royal Vic is made of Montreal limestone. It has unique crenelated (castle-like) parts and romantic turrets. These turrets frame large sun porches at the corners of the hospital's main wards.
Snell's design for the Royal Vic was inspired by the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh in Scotland. For medical reasons, his design followed the ideas of Florence Nightingale. It was a Pavilion Hospital, meaning patients and diseases were separated. This was thought to stop infections from spreading. The first part of the building was finished in 1893.
Later, new parts were added to the hospital in the same architectural style. The H pavilion opened in 1905 as a home for nurses. In the 1920s, the Women's and Ross Memorial pavilions were added. More expansion happened in the early 1950s, adding the M and S pavilions. Part of the original hospital was taken down for this. Finally, the C pavilion opened in 1993. It had the emergency room, a birthing centre, and a large modern ICU. There is a time capsule hidden in a wall on the ground floor of the C pavilion.
Hersey Pavilion: A Home for Nurses
The Hersey Pavilion, also called the H Pavilion, was one of the first buildings in Canada made specifically for nurses to live in. It was built in 1905 on the hospital grounds. It was designed by famous Montreal architects Edward & William Sutherland Maxwell. In 1997, it was named a National Historic Site of Canada. This was to recognize its important role in training nurses and making nursing a respected profession in Canada.
Important Doctors and Nurses
Many talented doctors and nurses have worked at the Royal Vic. Here are a few:
- Sir Thomas Roddick: The first head surgeon of the Royal Vic.
- Edward William Archibald: Known as Canada's first neurosurgeon (brain surgeon).
- Lt.-Colonel John McCrae: A Royal Vic doctor who wrote the famous poem In Flanders Fields.
- Norman Bethune: He created a mobile blood-transfusion service during the Spanish Civil War.
- Wilder Penfield: He founded the Montreal Neurological Institute. He was called "the greatest living Canadian" in his time.
- Martin Henry Dawson: The first person in history to give penicillin to a patient in 1940.
- Arthur Vineberg: He developed the 'Vineberg Procedure' at the Royal Vic in 1950.
- John Dossetor: He helped organize the first kidney transplant in both Canada and the Commonwealth in 1958.
- Balfour Mount: He is known as the father of palliative care (care for people with serious illnesses) in North America.
- Jonathan Larmonth Meakins: A Chief Surgeon at the Royal Vic. He was the first Canadian to become a Nuffield Professor of Surgery at Oxford in 2002.
- Mabel Clint: A nurse who served during World War I in France, Belgium, and Greece.
More to Explore
- Montreal Neurological Institute
- Allan Memorial Institute
- Montreal General Hospital
Images for kids
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The Hersey Pavilion was designed by Edward & William Sutherland Maxwell, 1905. It was designated a National Historic Site of Canada, 1997
